Top four pumpkin recipes

We all like to carve pumpkins with our kids, but how many of us use the flesh and seeds too?
Here are the top four pumpkin recipes for all your family to enjoy, our boys particularly loved the pizza!

1. Pumpkin and Swiss chard risotto
Roast the pumpkin at 200C for 40 minutes after tossing it with olive oil, sea salt and cracked pepper. Soften the onion and garlic with oil
over a low heat. Add rice and stir. Add stock and stir until absorbed, repeat until rice is cooked. Stir in pumpkin and Parmesan. Serve with extra Parmesan - enjoy!

2. Roast pumpkin and rocket salad, with macadamia nuts and a balsamic glaze
Roast the pumpkin as before. Toss the salad leaves in lemon juice and olive oil, and season lightly. Stir the roast pumpkin through, scatter light roasted macadamia nuts over. Drizzle with balsamic vinegar.

3. Roast pumpkin and chorizo pitta pizza
The kids will love them!
Heat the oven to 200C and put a baking tray inside to heat up. Spread each pitta with tomato purée, fresh tomatoes, chorizo and diced pumpkin. The possibilities are endless here - add whatever you like! We topped ours with mozzarella,but you can use any cheese. Bake for 10 minutes, scatter with basil, and serve.

4. Chill and lime pumpkin seeds.
Our household favourite, these go down a treat at pretty much every occasion, I guarantee that you will have none left!
Seperate the seeds from the flesh and pat dry with kitchen towel.
Mix with oil, paprika, chilli powder, cayenne and salt, the proportions are up to you! Mix the seeds through to coat and roast in very hot oven for about 10 minutes, stirring midway through. Tip into a bowl and squeeze over fresh lime juice. Mix and get stuck in!

Moules Marinieres

The summer's gone, time to face the facts. However as one door closes another opens as some of the best food is now available as the night's get longer. Root vegetables ideal for warming winter stews are now being pulled from the ground and game season has started. Also they say (I'm not too sure who these 'they' people are but they seem to know a lot) never buy/eat mussels unless the month has an 'r' in it's spelling. Mussels like cold water and grow nice and big as the winter draws in. As we are in our second month with an 'r' in it's spelling I felt it was time to share my Moules marinieres recipe. If  you're lucky enough to live on the coast and get to pick your own make sure you do it away from any built up areas, mussels are the sea's filters so you wouldn't want to eat anything nasty. This recipes originates from Belgium, the original recipe does not have cream in it but I like a splash to make the sauce nice and thick. When buying mussels if you can get them already cleaned then great. If not then make sure you pull the little 'beards' of each one and make sure you take off any barnacles etc. from their shells. Discard any that don't close when you give them a tap with the back of a knife, they will be dead. Before cooking give them a nice purge in some fresh water, when the water running off them is clear then they are ready for the pot.

Moules Marinieres

Ingredients (serves 2)

3 kg mussels
1 glass of good quality white wine (if you wouldn't drink it then don't cook with it!)
3 garlic cloves crushed
1/2 an onion finely diced 
1/2 pint double cream
1 tsp butter
1 spring onion sliced for a garnish
Lemon wedge
Splash of olive oil

Method
Get a sauce pan hot, add the olive oil and then the onions. Fry for a minute then add the garlic, fry for another minute then add the mussels and give them a good stir. Next add the white wine (careful of the steam!) give it all a good stir and put a lid on the sauce pan. Let it all cook for about 2 minutes shaking the pan (with your hand on the lid!) every now and then. After 2 minutes has passed with your hand on the lid make a small crack between the pan and lid and pour out the cooking liquid leaving a little bit behind. Then pour in the double cream and the butter and bring back to the boil. When the cream comes to the boil it's ready, garnish with the chopped spring onion and serve! Discard any that haven't opened and enjoy!

Chinese crispy chilli beef

As I may have mentioned before in a previous blog my wife and I spent our childhood in Hong Kong (we then met up 15 years later!) and Chinese food is something that we both adore. Trying to find an authentic Chinese takeaway has been a bit hit and miss until recently one opened up near us and it's the best yet! (Noble House in Amesbury) My wife had crispy chilli beef and I had sweet and sour pork (Hong Kong style, not battered) and Singapore noodles. The next day I finished off what my wife didn't eat not knowing that she planned to have it for her dinner. Needless to say she was a bit annoyed that I ate her dinner so I had to make it up to her! Below is the recipe I used and she loved it, phew!

Ingredients serves 4
400g rump or sirloin steak cut into strips
2 eggs beaten
1/2 tsp salt
4 tbsp cornflour
oil for deep frying
1 carrot finely sliced
2 spring onions finely sliced
1 garlic clove finely chopped
2 red chillies finely chopped
Thumb sized piece of root ginger finely sliced
1 tbsp sweet chilli sauce
1 tbsp dark soy sauce
1 tbsp red/rice wine vinegar
1 tbsp Chinese 5 spice

Method

Get all the ingredients ready before you start cooking. When cooking stir fry dishes like this it's important to have everything ready as the cooking process is quick and you want everything cooked the same.

Mix the eggs, salt and cornflour then coat the beef with the batter and mix well. Fill a wok quarter full with oil, heat the oil until a piece of bread fries golden brown in 15 seconds. Cook the beef for 3-4 minutes, stirring to separate, the remove and drain on kitchen paper. Cook the carrot for 1 1/2 minutes then remove and drain. Pour the oil from the wok leaving 1 tbsp. Reheat the reserved oil over a high heat until very hot and stir fry the spring onion, garlic and chilli for a few seconds. Add all the other ingredients and stir to combine and ENJOY! Good luck!

Crispy chilli beef

Summer BBQ recipes

With summer finally upon us (with the exception of today's stormy conditions!) it's time to dust down the BBQ and do some cooking alfresco! This year we've upgraded to a gas BBQ which in my humble opinion is easier to cook on than charcoal as you can maintain and regulate the heat a lot easier. Below are some easy to follow recipes that definitely have the 'wow' factor and will impress your guests should you be having any round!

Charred asparagus with lemon and sea salt

Ingredients (serves 4)

16 asparagus spears

2 lemons

Sea salt crystals

Splash of olive oil

This dish is as simple as it sounds. Simply chop the wooden bit off the asparagus spears put them in a dish cover with the juice of the lemon, olive oil and salt. Leave for about 30 mins then grill them on a hot BBQ turning frequently to ensure they get an even colour. When they look a bit like the picture above they're ready to serve!

Rib-eye steak with a Dijon mustard and garlic herb glaze

Ingredients (serves 4)

4 rib-eye steaks

4 tsp Dijon mustard

4 garlic cloves crushed

1 small bunch of flat parsley chopped

4 sprigs of thyme

Salt and pepper for seasoning

Olive oil

In a bowl mix together everything but the steaks. Mix well then brush it onto the steaks and leave to marinade. If you can give it 12 hours great, if not then a minimum of 30 minutes will do. Make sure your BBQ is nice and hot then start cooking your steaks. Blue-1 minute each side, rare-1 1/2 minutes each side, medium rare-2 1/4 minutes each side and medium-well done 2 1/2-3 minutes each side. Leave to steaks to rest for a couple of minutes then serve!

King prawn and chorizo kebabs marinaded in olive oil, garlic and parsley

Ingredients (serves 4)
8 large king prawns de-veined (trail of nastiness along it's back)
8 thick slices of chorizo
1 tbsp chopped parsley
4 garlic cloves crushed
Splash of olive oil
4 wooden skewers

Again another simple one! Mix together the garlic, olive oil and parsley and pour over the prawns and leave to marinade. Like with the steaks 12 hours is great but if not then 30 minutes will do. To stop the wooden skewers from burning let them soak in water over night. If that can't be done then pour boiling water over them leave for 15 minutes then repeat with another lot of boiling water. Skewer the prawns and chorizo and start cooking. Be careful not to burn them with the oil that the chorizo will release. When the prawns are pink they're ready, time to serve!

Lamb kebabs with a Greek yogurt and Harissa marinade

Ingredients (serves 4)
4 lamb steaks diced
200g Greek yogurt
2 tbsp chopped mint
2 tbsp chopped rosemary
2 tsp Harissa paste
2 cloves of garlic crushed
Salt and pepper for seasoning.
4 wooden skewers

Mix together all the ingredients except the lamb and then mix the lamb in. Again a long period of marinading would be good but not absolutely necessary. Thread the lamb onto the pre-soaked skewers and then straight onto a hot BBQ. If your BBQ has a lid then close it for 5 minutes to get it extra hot. When the lamb feels firm to touch (after about 5 minutes) then it's ready. Serve it with tzatziki and enjoy!

Easter recipes #2

Roast leg of lamb

With Easter on the horizon it's time to get thinking about Sunday lunch. The last blog was a relatively easy recipe allowing you to spend time with your family, this one is a bit more 'hands on' but the rewards are worth it. A roast dinner is a simple dinner to put together as long as all the prep work is done in advance. Below is a step by step guide that will hopefully make things run smoothly.

Ingredients (serves 4)

1 leg of lamb

1 bunch of rosemary

3 garlic cloves peeled

6 medium sized maris piper potatoes

Vegetables of your choice

Goose fat

Good quality gravy thickener

Salt and pepper for seasoning

Olive oil

Splash of red wine

Method

First get your oven to 220C and start peeling your vegetables (this can be done a few hours before) and keep the peelings. Put all the peelings and any bits of root vegetables (not the potatoes) you're not using in a sauce pan with a splash of oil and fry for a minute then add the red wine and let it simmer for 2 minutes to burn off the alcohol. Pour in some water (to fill about 2/3 of the pan) and leave to simmer (this will be the stock for the gravy). Peel the potatoes and cut them into roast potato size and leave them in water. Put the leg on lamb in a roasting dish, pour on a little of the olive oil. Make a few cuts into the meat and stuff them with the garlic cloves, season then place some sprigs of rosemary over the meat.

Leg of lamb ready for the oven

Place the lamb in the oven, after 10 minutes take it out, cover it in foil then put it back in the oven for an hour and a half or 2 hours if you prefer it cooked through. In the mean time start cooking the potatoes in boiling water. When you can put a knife easily through them drain them into a colander or sieve and leave to dry out, then 'rough' them up a bit by shaking whatever you have them in. The more edges the potatoes have the more 'crispier' they will be at the end. Heat up the goose fat in an oven tray in the oven until the fat starts to smoke a bit. Pour a little olive oil over the potatoes, season and carefully place them on the oven tray being careful not to splash your self with the oil. Using a spoon cover the potatoes with the goose fat and put them back in the oven. They should take just under an hour to get nice and golden. Every now and then take them out of the oven and turn them over so you get a nice colour on all sides. Get your preferred vegetables cooked, to make things easier you can cook them in advance and heat them up in the microwave if you have one.

Lamb ready to eat!

When the lamb is cooked take it out of the oven put it on a chopping board and cover it in foil to let it rest. Get as much fat out of the roasting dish as you can and place it on the heat, pour the stock from the peelings through a sieve into the roasting dish and get it on the heat. Using a wooden spoon scrape up all the residue left over from the lamb and let it simmer for a few minutes. Pour this mixture back through a sieve into a sauce pan and return it to the heat. Thicken with the gravy thickener and leave to simmer gently. When the lamb has rested carve it up, heat the vegetables and serve! ENJOY!

  

My little family about to enjoy a roast!

Easter recipes #1

Slow roasted belly of pork infused with thyme and garlic, on a coarse grain mustard mash with a cider and apple jus. 

With Easter soon approaching it's time to start thinking about what to cook. This blog will come in two parts, the first being a roast you can put in the oven and leave to do it's thing for a few hours giving you more time with your family. The second will be a bit more hands on needing a bit more attention. The first recipe will be a belly of pork dish. This cut of meat needs a slow cooking process and a low heat then to finish it off it needs a hot blast in the oven to crisp it up giving you perfect crackling.

Photo courtesy of Wiltshire Society magazine (from a recipe feature I was in)

Ingredients
(Serves 4)
1 kg of pork belly
1 bunch of thyme
2 garlic cloves
6 medium maris piper potatoes
1 tbsp coarse grain mustard
1 knob of butter
1 large onion diced
1/2 pint of cider
1/2 pint good quality beef stock (thickened)
2 tbsp chunky apple sauce
100g salt crystals
Pepper for seasoning
Olive oil

Method
First if it's not tied tie up the belly of pork into a joint, then stuff the thyme and sliced garlic clove into the joint. Then pour boiling water over the belly, this helps to dry it out and give perfect crackling. Drizzle some olive oil over the belly and cover with the salt. Place some of the diced onion onto a roasting tray and put the belly on top. Cover with foil and roast in an oven at 150C for 3 hours. After 3 hours remove the foil and brush off the salt and cook for a further 30 minutes at 220C.
To make the mash peel and dice the potatoes, boil until tender then mash. Add the butter, mustard and season.
To make the sauce fry the remaining onions in a sauce pan with some chopped garlic. After 1 minute add the cider and let it reduce by half. Add the apple sauce and stock, reduce by 1/3 and season.
Slice the belly into 'steak' size and serve on the mash with the sauce around it, serve and enjoy!

Individual Beef Wellingtons

The Beef Wellington (not named after the 1st Duke of Wellington, it was apparently invented for a civic reception in Wellington, New Zealand) is a very famous and decadent dish. There are many variations and mine is an adaption of Gordon Ramsey's where he uses Parma ham around the fillet opposed to a crepe, which helps to keep the moisture away from the puff pastry. Instead of using a whole fillet of beef (a bit expensive and you'd need 8 hungry mouths) this recipe is for individual steaks. It's quite a simple recipe so give it a go you'll be glad you did! I served mine on dauphinoise potatoes with purple sprouting broccoli and a red wine reduction.

Ingredients (serves 4)
For the Wellingtons:
4 8oz fillet steaks
250g ready made puff pastry
6 chestnut mushrooms
1/2 red onion finely diced
Handfull of washed spinach
2 gloves of crushed garlic
4 slices of Parma ham
1 sprig of thyme
1 egg beaten
For the dauphinoise potatoes:
4 maris piper potatoes
1/2 red onion sliced
1/2 pint double cream
1 garlic glove crushed
For the red wine reduction:
1/4 of an onion chopped
1 garlic clove crushed
1 pint quality beef stock, thickened
1 glass of red wine
2 tbsp red currant jelly
12 purple sprouting broccoli stems

Method
First take your steaks out of the fridge and let them get to room temperature. Splash a bit of olive oil into a frying pan and get smoking hot, seal the steaks and set aside. Pour some of the red wine into the pan to
de-glaze it and lift up the intense steak flavours left over from the sealing process, keep this liquid. Finely chop the mushrooms and fry them in a pan with the onion, thyme and garlic, when it's cooked (after 2 mins) add a splash of red wine and the spinach and keep cooking until the spinach has wilted, season. Roll out or unroll the pastry on a floured surface and let it get to room temperature (makes it easier to work with). Instead of covering the entire steak in pastry we're going to make a lattice effect with the pastry. You can buy a small roller that does it for you but it can easily be done with a knife:

 
Using a knife measure out the width of each steak and measure it out on the pastry and cut it into a rectangle. Then with a sharp knife cut through the pastry like the picture above. When you've done this gently stretch out the pastry like the picture below:

Top each steak with the fried mushroom and onion mixture (duxelle) and wrap them in the Parma ham. Then carefully lay the pastry over each steak and tuck the pastry underneath and brush with the beaten egg:

The Wellingtons are now ready for cooking and can be stored in the fridge for around 12 hours if needed to. Now it's time to make the dauphinoise potatoes, peel and thinly slice the potatoes. Fry the sliced onions in a little olive oil for a minute then add the garlic and double cream. Then add the potatoes and bake in an oven proof dish at 220C for half an hour or until a knife slides easily through the potatoes.
For the sauce fry the chopped onions for a minute in a little olive oil then add the garlic and red wine. Simmer this mixture for 3 minutes to burn off the alcohol then add the stock and redcurrant jelly. Leave to simmer until it reduces by half.
Cook each Wellington on a greased baking tray at 220C, when the pastry is golden brown then they are medium rare and ready! If you prefer your steaks cooked a little more turn the oven down to 175C and add a further 3 minutes for medium or 7 for well done. Boil some water in a pan and cook the broccoli, once it comes back to the boil add 2 minutes and it's cooked. Place the potatoes in a circular cake cutter in the middle of a plate, pour the sauce around the potatoes put the Wellington on top and place the broccoli on the plate. Now you're ready to impress! Good luck and have fun......

 

How to make a tasty burger

Homemade burger topped with Gruyere avocado and mayo served with fries. 

Since the horse meat scandal local butchers have seen a huge increase in sales with people not trusting the big super markets which is great news for local business. Ready made super market burgers have seen a big dip in sales for obvious reasons. Burgers are super easy to make and there are an unlimited variations all you need is a binding agent (egg and/or bread crumbs) and your'e off! The recipe below is one of my favourites and used to feature on the menu in various pubs I have worked in in the past.
Ingredients:
300g lean mince beef
1 egg
2 tsp ketchup
1 tsp mustard (I used Dijon but any will do)
1/2 red onion diced
1 garlic glove crushed
1/2 tsp cumin
2 tbsp chopped flat leaf parsley
Salt and pepper for seasoning
Method:
First mix all the ingredients in a bowl, to mix really well squeeze it all through your fingers (if you wear a ring I'd take it off!). When it's all mixed really well shape them into patties, to do this form some of the mixture into a ball a bit smaller than a tennis ball then flatten it. Leave them to chill in a fridge for at least 20 minutes so they firm up. The longer you leave them the better as this allows the flavours to enhance. To cook get a frying pan hot with a splash of oil. Cook on each side for about 2 minutes then under a grill for another 5. You can use steak mince to make you burgers and if you do then you can have them medium rare or well done etc., which ever is your preference. Serve in a toasted bun with what ever topping you like. We had Gruyere cheese with avocado and mayonnaise and a side of fries. Enjoy! (No horse meat was used in the making of this burger)

Pan fried Bream on chilli and chorizo risotto

Last weekend I catered for a party in the Costwolds and on my way there I decided to give Stroud market a go and see how much of my ingredients I could get from it. Well it turns out Stroud market is a bit good and I managed to get most of my ingredients from Gilt headed bream to various cured meats and locally produced cheeses. I liked it so much that I got some ingredients for myself and here's what I did with them.

Fillet of bream on a chilli and chorizo risotto with beer battered scallops and balsamic reduction

Ingredients: (serves 2)
1 whole bream scaled and gutted
8 scallops (roe removed)
1 cup of risotto rice
Splash of white wine
1 pint of fish stock (or cube, see below if you want to make your own)
10 slices of chilli and garlic chorizo
1/2 red onion finely diced
1/2 green chilli finely chopped (seeds removed)
1/2 green pepper sliced
3 garlic gloves finely chopped or through a garlic crusher
1 knob of butter
Beer batter (lager mixed with self raising flour-the consistency should be thick enough to cover the back of a spoon)
1/2 pint of vegetable oil
Balsamic reduction
Salt and pepper for seasoning.

Method
First remove the two fillets from the bream. You can ask your fish monger to do this for you but ask for the carcass if you want to make your own stock. To make a fish stock fill a pan with cold water add the fish and any root vegetables you have to hand, a few garlic cloves and fresh parsley if you have any. Slowly bring the pan up to simmering point and simmer very gently for about an hour. Strain this through a very fine sieve or muslin cloth if you have one. To get perfectly clear fish stock freeze it then defrost it through a muslin cloth.
To make the risotto firstly fry the slices of chorizo with a little olive oil then add the rice making sure that each grain get covered in the olive/chorizo oil. Then add the onions, garlic, chilli, pepper and white wine. Simmer the wine so it burns off it's alcohol. Pour in the fish stock and let it simmer, when the rice is cooked add the butter, season and set aside with a lid on it. Dip the scallops in flour then into the batter, in a sauce pan carefully heat up some vegetable oil. Season the fillets of bream and heat up some butter and olive oil in a frying  pan. When it's bubbling cook the bream, skin side up first. Cook for about 2 minutes on each side spooning the oil from the pan over the fillets as you cook them. As they are cooking test the heat of the vegetable oil by dropping a bit of the batter in, if it starts bubbling then it's ready. Cook the scallops for about a minute then drain on kitchen paper. To plate I used a circular cake cutter for the risotto, then placed the fillet on it, poured some balsamic reduction around the risotto and placed the scallops on that, as you can see from the photo! Give it a go and bon appetit!